As the 24th Universal Postal Congress closes, the UPU turns to the new frontiers of the postal sector
International postal services are moving resolutely towards the future, declared Edouard Dayan, director general of the Universal Postal Union, at the close of the 24th Universal Postal Congress, which ended its three weeks of discussions today.
"From Bucharest to Geneva, the whole tone has changed. Four years ago, an air of pessimism hung around the future of postal services" said Dayan. "Today, our agenda includes e-commerce, technological development, intelligent mail, facilitation of international trade and exchanges, electronic money transfers, sustainable development, international cooperation, postal infrastructure at the service of development policies, and development – rather than downsizing – of the universal service".
At the closing session of Congress, the director general also described the many faces of a sector which is active on all fronts of the global economy, in the face of burgeoning new technologies and the growth of globalization and international trade.
Re-elected by acclamation at this Congress, Edouard Dayan is beginning a second mandate at the head of this specialized agency of the United Nations. His deputy, Guozhong Huang, was likewise re-elected.
Elections
In the coming cycle, Kenya will chair the Council of Administration, and Greece the Postal Operations Council. These two bodies ensure the continuity of the UPU's work between Congresses.
Aside from the elections, Congress also examined 300 proposals and resolutions relating to the structure of the UPU, its mission and finances, and to international exchanges of letters, parcels and money transfers between postal operators the world over.
In terms of operations, for example, minimum security standards and processes for postal operators will be drawn up, and Posts are invited to work more closely with customs authorities to identify counterfeit or pirated articles sent through the mail.
The incoming UPU Postal Operations Council – the body responsible for studying technical and operational aspects of postal services, will, at its October session at UPU headquarters in Berne, study some 260 other proposals to amend the Letter Post and Parcel Post Regulations.
The Universal Postal Congress, held every four years, brought together the plenipotentiaries of 179 of the UPU's 191 member countries. Over 2,500 people, among them 70 ministers, representing these countries, international organizations and other stakeholders in the world postal sector were present, breaking all records for participation in a Congress.
World strategy adopted
One of the most important decisions of Congress was the adoption of the next world postal strategy, which focuses on modernizing global postal services at all levels, whether in terms of institutional reform or quality of service improvement, postal security and universal postal service, or raising awareness of the impact of postal services on the environment and climate change Meanwhile, the adoption of a new Postal Payment Services Agreement will enable postal operators to move more quickly towards offering faster, more secure and more accessible electronic money transfer services to unbanked populations in regions that are poorly served by formal money transfer networks.
Responding to calls from developing countries for more financial and technical support for their efforts to improve their postal networks, the lifespan of the UPU Quality of Service Fund has been extended until 2016. Since its creation in 2001, this Fund has established itself as a unique source of funding for projects to improve the universal postal service in the developing and least developed countries. It has already financed more than 400 projects totalling 60 million USD.
The next Universal Postal Congress will be held in 2012 in Doha (Qatar).